


"Wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers in high places."

by those_forgotten



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Biblical References, F/M, Heaven/Hell, M/M, Work In Progress, but i maintained oops! and hi, some God/Devil complexity as well, some names changed for Biblical reasons but you'll figure it out, they're all angels/demons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-13 17:13:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4530330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/those_forgotten/pseuds/those_forgotten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>louis is a fallen angel, and harry is an angel-angel, but there's so much more to it than that. add in demons that louis has taken in as little sisters, an angel held for ransom in hell, and an all-out war between heaven and hell, and maybe somehow this can still be considered a one direction AU, but even i am skeptical atp</p><p>****work in progress but i will add chapters as they are desired!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "In the beginning, darkness was upon the face of the deep."

It was Halloween night, and Louis was out on the streets as he was oft to be. Yet Mars Bars and Cadbury’s weren’t his aims now. No, there was something else on his mind now – and in his opinion, it was the sweeter of the two options. 

He had brought along three of his underlings, all in various girlish costumes for the night. There was Loriana, blonde and bodacious tonight wearing a devil’s outfit, horns and all. Then Ferona, nearly as tall as her matron but all legs and in a grotesque monster bride costume. She held Louis’ last consort, little Desdaemona who was only a baby and dressed as a chick. 

The two older girls demanded of Louis what his costume was, when they saw him in a denim jacket and black jeans, and he only had to grin and flash his tongue between his teeth for them to remember. Their human bodies were costume enough. 

If you’re not yet aware, Louis and his vassals were not entirely human; surely at one point they had been, many Halloween nights ago. Louis, of course, was the exception; he had been this way for more years than any man could fathom. But one by one the demon-nymphs had joined him, converted here and there. He hadn’t ever meant to, but he’d become a sort of father figure for the three girls with him on this particular night. They were all good girls: innocent at one time; and now, understanding their situation, not innocent anymore. It is simply what it is. 

And since each one of them had been ripped from their lives – cruelly, they had first imagined – on this All Hallows’ Eve, the girls had begged to be allowed out in the world tonight. It was the first time for all but Loriana, who was the oldest of the three and had assumed the role of matron over all the demons in the underworld. 

Their stories differed, each of them. Loriana had been tempted away from the safe grasp of her parents sometime in the 1300s by a mysterious woman offering shadowy magic and adventure; what sixteen-year-old girl could pass that up, having been confined to watching the world go by from the window of a thatch-roofed hut? Ferona had been intended at thirteen to marry an alluring young man who seemed too handsome to be human and it wasn’t until they came to their bedchamber that she discovered he was far less than human. And poor little Desdaemona, soul sold before she was even born, by a mother desperate for drugs. Louis had no choice, upon her birth, but to carry her feather-light soul, yet so unburdened by the cares of the world, to join him and his lovely little fiends in the underworld. 

So Halloween night found them on the streets of a small English town in Cheshire. It was as good a town as any, and it had the added bonus of simple-minded and sweet-souled inhabitants. If Louis hadn’t been planning on harvesting those souls, he might have found the town charming, its residents kind and friendly. Indeed every house had a jack-o-lantern on its porch and an equally smiley adult standing beside it with a bowl of candies. Children ran up and down the streets in various levels of disarray – witches’ hats clutched in little hands and superhero capes flying behind them. A low fog lay above the roofs of the houses, but it ended just short of where the moon hung with its groupings of stars. Shadowed enough for Louis’ dark actions, but with enough light that he would be able to see the life leave the eyes of every one of his conquests. 

The best kind of night. 

He was standing in such thought when he felt a figure bump into his side, having evidently tripped on the devil tail Loriana wore around her waist. “Oops!” the offender said, smiling. 

Louis, at one point in his life, would have taken to anger. But he had long found out that sugar caught mice better than poison. “Hi,” he said instead, offering a hand to steady the boy who had tripped. “You’ve really got to be more careful with that, love,” he said, turning to Loriana. 

“I’m surely sorry, sir,” she said, batting her eyes and cocking her head to the side. “I’m Lottie, but clearly the devil in me has come out a bit tonight.” The boy laughed good-naturedly. “I won’t hold you to it if you don’t,” he said happily. 

Loriana laughed softly and whispered, just barely loud enough for Louis to hear, “Can’t promise that, now can I?” Louis shot her a look. She ought to know better. 

“’M Harry,” the boy said, smiling so his dimples showed and Louis knew then, he would be his conquest. Curly hair, green eyes, maybe eighteen – damn it all if he didn’t get a single other soul tonight: innocence and goodness dripped from this one like the juice of the forbidden fruit itself. 

“Louis,” he returned. “And these are my sisters; Lottie, Felicite, and Desda – Daisy.” If there were anywhere else for Louis to curse himself to, he would have. He really couldn’t afford another slipup, not with the added unpredictability of the girls. Something about this stranger just threw him off, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t get a grip on. He was the best, the strongest, the cleverest – Harry wasn’t a match for Louis in any world. 

“Well, girls, your costumes are lovely; let me guess: devil,” (Loriana smirked and adjusted the horns fixed over her blonde hair), “Frankenstein’s bride,” (Ferona lifted up her frayed black veil), “And you, little one... are you a chick?” And he reached out to the baby in Ferona’s arms and tweaked her nose, where a tiny orange beak had been drawn. 

Desdaemona jerked back as if she had been singed, and Ferona with her. Louis hoped the babe’s flaring red eyes were shielded by the darkness; it was a trait that demons learned to control with time, this immediate and violent reaction to a pure soul and the promise of mortal blood running so close to the surface of a human touch. Louis really ought to do something about the situation before it went too far, but luckily, Loriana covered for them both.

“Harry, would you not join me for a walk, leave the children to themselves?” Harry laughed, not unkindly, and, flicking his eyes just perceptibly up and down her body, fell into step with Loriana. 

“Not too late now, Lottie!” Louis called after them, reassuming the role of protective brother. Harry grinned over his shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Louis: I’ll have her back safe and sound.”

With the two of them safely out of earshot, Louis turned harshly to Ferona, who had remained oddly silent; normally she jumped at the chance to chide Loriana about her weakness for pretty humans. “What the hell was that?” Desdaemona could only shake her head, and Ferona’s gaze was still set straight in front of her, unseeing. 

Louis wondered momentarily if she had gone into shock, and whether she ought to be brought home earlier than planned. 

Instead he chose to shake her shoulders, because he needed to know why one of his most sensible demons was now mute. The rocking seemed to awaken her, and she quivered once before turning her eyes to Louis’, blacker than he’d ever seen them before. 

“He was... different, Lou. I swear it, he was not like... not like what I’ve been picking up from the others... he burned me and I didn’t even touch him, Lou, please...” 

Now, Louis isn’t one to brush off convictions like these. But he had to weigh the facts. This was Ferona’s first time in the human world since she had been a human. A little sensitivity to mortal contact is always present at first. She seemed a little shaken up, which Louis understood. But there was no stake to put in her claims. So he nodded, and gave her a little hug, and tickled Desdaemona under the chin until she stopped shaking her head. 

“Don’t you worry, love. This is all quite new to you, innit? I’ll take care of it. Now, how about you two find a nice kid to play with, and bring him home with us later? We’ll meet up at the tree at midnight, remember, girls.” The girls nodded, and Ferona pressed a kiss to his cheek before disappearing with the baby in her arms. 

This was a prime night for harvesting, and Louis could very well find some bored parents to entice, but if he was being perfectly honest, he had his sights set on someone else, and he wanted to make sure he didn’t miss his opportunity. So he set himself down on a bench not far from the threshold of the woods behind the neighborhood, and waited for Harry to return to him. 

He had to wait rather longer than he’d expected, and he chuckled in spite of himself at Loriana’s forwardness. She always had had a thing for those irresistible humans, with their earthy eyes and pulsing veins. He decided to let her have her fun. 

But he also knew she was never one to hold onto mortals for long – hook it, suck it and book it, she called it. It was likely, of course, that she had found another creature to entertain her. So when he saw Harry returning to the main road, without Loriana in tow, he told himself to keep an even temper. 

Louis watched the boy walk slowly and easily down the street, easy to follow in his white tee shirt that made him look so like a phantom floating towards him. When he spotted Louis on the bench, his face lit up and he immediately turned himself in his direction. Louis’ breaths came faster, and if there were still blood running through his veins, he was certain his heart would have been running away. 

“Now what have you done with my sister?” Louis asked, hoping he didn’t sound like he was trying to keep his voice on the indifferent side of curious. Harry grinned as he came to stand beside Louis, and suddenly it wasn’t quite so comforting as the first time Louis had seen it. 

“She told me where she lived, so I brought her home. Safe and sound now with your dad.” Louis felt himself grow cold, and he folded his hands in his lap to stop the trembling in his fingers. 

(Harry and Lottie had come to a clearing, and she leaned against a tree, daring Harry come nearer. 

“Well, come now. Wouldn’t you like a taste of the darker side of the world?” she asked. As Harry stepped closer, she slipped her panties down her legs from underneath her red satin skirt, and kicked them free of her scarlet high heels. 

“You’re not entirely human, are you, Lottie?” Harry murmured, and Lottie froze just a second. But she had been doing this for at least two hundred years: she knew he was just playing with her. That’s what they all said, and they just wanted to get in her pants. And she was happy to oblige. 

“Was the costume too subtle?” she smirked, undoing the clasp at her back and allowing her black and red corset to fall onto the ground beside her. Harry came yet closer, so his breath warmed her neck and she could smell his – why was there no scent of blood? And why did everything feel so warm? 

“The real question is, dear Loriana,” and he pressed a hand to her heart, while covering her mouth to stifle her screams, “Was mine?”)

“Ah,” he managed. “Cheers. And where was that again? We moved away from our father long ago, want to make sure she didn’t tell you where we used to live.” 

Harry fixed him with a careful look. “The big house, on the hill.” Louis forced himself to ask the only question there was left to ask: 

“The house, you mean, with the steeple, and the tall windows?” A pause. “The church?” 

Harry snapped his finger and Louis jolted out of his state with the sound. “That’s the one, Louis. Yes, she must have told me where she used to live. Was your father a religious man, by any chance?” 

Louis stuttered, at a loss for words. 

“Sorry. Rude of me to ask,” Harry said, suddenly smiling and loose again. Louis felt himself regain some of his cool, and he shook his head. “No worries, Harold.” Harold. Now why did the name come to him so easily? 

Harry’s head shot up, and Louis tried it out again. “Harold, eh? One would think an angel could be a bit more imaginative. Herald. Unbelievable.” 

The angel lifted his head higher and met Louis’ eyes defiantly. “By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my doing.”

Louis scoffed. “Oh, I’m well aware of that, thank you. We all know you messengers haven’t a thought of your own creation. You have a God to thank for that, I suppose.” 

“And I do thank Him most plenteously, for it is clear that man’s thoughts are but wicked things, and a wicked messenger will fall into adversary; but a faithful envoy brings healing. You, rest assured, know this better than any soul on earth or otherwise. Perhaps it is the one true word that you know better than He Himself.” 

Louis knew he couldn’t blush, not without life, but he was certain the shame rose to his face as clear as day. Harry’s face softened, and Louis could pretend just for a moment that he was still a soft-haired, light-eyed human with flaws and sins and mortal weaknesses. 

“I’ve saved your sisters. Won’t you let me save you, too?” And he reached out a hand; long pale fingers in the moonlight and Louis had never felt so revolted in his life. 

“Saved them,” he spit back. You mean you’ve damned them for all eternity, sentenced them to life in heaven to punish me. There is nothing for them there. There never was – even before they knew it, because I always knew better, I always knew who was cut out for this kind of life. You must think I’m selfish don’t you, Harry? You must think me the self-serving monster here, bent on filling my realm with fiends. But what is your God then? Who is He, to create these poor, thoughtless beings; subject them to live amongst cruelty and unjustness here; and then maybe, just perhaps if they are deemed good enough, enjoy the paradise He has built them? I give those souls a chance in hell.” 

Harry stood motionless, silent, and Louis wondered if he truly had out argued an angel. Then he heard it. 

“Lou? Lou, he was right. This... isn’t right. I thought he’d burned me, but really he was relighting something inside me, and it’s good. Won’t you come back with us, Lou, please?” Louis was certain he was going to be sick if he turned around, but he had to see what this herald had turned his darling little fiends into. 

There Ferona stood, but her tattered and blackened wedding dress was pure white now, and Louis imagined she looked not unlike she had on her wedding day five hundred years ago when she had walked the earth a human. In her arms lay Desdaemona sleeping, wrapped in a snowy blanket. And next to the two of them, tall, proud Loriana – an angel now, wings settled across her shoulders and a face lowered in remorse. 

The eldest spoke to the ground as she addressed Louis. “Lou – I know this is hard, and that it feels irrevocable... and that’s because it is.” She met his eyes boldly at last, and that same haughty smile played on her lips as when Louis had first laid eyes on her, she newly arrived in hell and without a regret in the world. “I’ll fall back down to you someday!”

Harry furrowed his brow, and with a single flick of his hand, Louis’ three demons disappeared. He accepted that as the last time he would see his little fiends. 

Left alone with Harry again, Louis turned a steady gaze to the courier before him. “Now, Harry. You can’t imagine this is the first time I’ve lost demons to your lot; times have been better, certainly. But did you really think you would convert Lucifer himself with a bit of verse and some cherubic curls?” 

And with that, he flashed his eyes – eyes so blue Harry wondered the fires of hell hadn’t quenched them yet – and was gone.


	2. "Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harry is beat up about not capturing the Devil himself but at least he's got his bud niall to cheer him up. meanwhile plans are reworked for a second rendezvous.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, eh, Haz? It was the original fallen angel himself – it’s a wonder you even got so close to him before, well, you know.” 

Harry did know, and he didn’t need Niall reminding him of his failure on earth. He should have known as soon as Louis introduced himself just whom he was dealing with. But never had he imagined the Devil would be so, well, devilish. Besides, he had already heard it reiterated enough from Liam. 

(“Herald, what were you doing wasting time with his demons? Once you were certain of his identity, why would you not reach out for help? This was our opportunity; who knows when he will return to our realm? Let us not forget that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” 

Harry had long accepted that he wouldn’t ever get through to Michael, an angel of a military mindset. So he chose not to make the obvious statement that God had chosen him over Liam to walk the earth on All Hallows’ Eve. It didn’t matter. 

But he knew what Liam held dear over all else, and that was trust in the Lord. “Do you suggest, Michael, that all of this is not of a grand design? Trust in God, and He will make straight your paths.” Liam blushed, and Harry heard Niall whoop behind him. 

“Nanael, haven’t you other duties to attend to?” Liam said sharply – though he was clearly shaken, and with that he was momentarily quelled.) 

But Harry hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that he had failed his God. He didn’t consider himself strong or pure of heart enough to ever save Louis, but his efforts had been at least to make some sort of breakthrough with him. Yet there hadn’t been even the faintest of signs of his immoral core cracking, not even when Harry presented him with his three captured demons. 

And it had been no small task returning those demons to the holy realm. They truly had come, kicking and screaming, when Daniel came to escort them. Harry should have known the poor souls wouldn’t be able to make an immediate turnaround, and Loriana’s speech certainly hadn’t helped. They had suddenly grown belligerent, intent on returning to their former master by whatever means possible – Loriana attempted to seduce Daniel into allowing her to return to the Devil, Ferona dashed herself off a cliff, and even little Desdaemona wriggled out of the angel’s arms as they flew into the heavens. 

Harry tried not to think too much on Louis, not when such matters existed in his own realm. But he wondered how he felt, having lost his favorites. The last Harry had seen of Louis was his bright glinting eyes, and Harry had seen enough suffering in his unending lifetime to know it had been sorrow that had flashed through them last. But Harry reminded himself it was no more sorrow than the Lord had felt when those very souls were stolen away from Him by Louis and his army of fiends. 

The girls’ arrival in heaven brought only further uproar: never before had newly captured demons been permitted to an audience with Gabriel before, yet there they had stood, eyes still afire with hell and brimstone. But Harry could understand the girls: they simply didn’t know that their former way of living was no way to live at all. Hundreds of years of bad habit weren’t going to come undone the minute they stepped past Peter’s gates. 

The baby was especially inconsolable, crying day and night and thrashing her little limbs at anyone who tried to touch her besides the girls. “It’s because she doesn’t understand any of this. I at least knew a life before Lou. Des never did – that’s all she’s ever known. You can’t blame her,” Ferona told him once softly. Harry couldn’t be certain if the hint of bitterness he detected was directed at devil or angel anymore. 

Harry knew this couldn’t go on in such a manner – there was talk amongst the judges and the lawful saints that these creatures didn’t belong here, not without a clear sign of willing conversion: they couldn’t lawfully be coerced into redesign, according to spiritual commandment angel and demon alike observed. An argument perhaps could be made in Ferona’s favor, for she at least remained silent if she were displeased with her situation. Loriana was incorrigible as ever – but then again, she had been a sixteen-year-old girl for 700 years, and it was unlikely she would ever change.

But their audience with Gabriel and his court was fast approaching, and Harry feared the fate of the girls, as it was likely they would spend eternity in purgatory (they couldn’t very well send the girls back to hell; that was a reward, not a punishment). But a forever in purgatory? Knowing they were stuck between hell and heaven for an immeasurable amount of time? That was no life, and Harry was determined it wouldn’t come to that. 

“Herald? A word.” Harry turned to find Liam at his side. He guessed from his grim countenance that they wouldn’t be discussing the late Pope’s recent canonization. 

“I have been speaking with the blessed Gabriel in preparation for the... new arrivals’ audience with him. And he had an interesting proposal that he believed ought to be related to you, since you worked the most closely with them while on earth.” Harry nodded fervently, hope holding out by this turn of events. 

“I’ll have you know, frankly, I am entirely opposed to this scheme – as we are not ones to negotiate with terrorists – but Gabriel has suggested we hold a conference with fallen Lucifer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies if the names are confusing but i wanted to use authentic angel names so Nanael = niall, michael = liam, and gabriel is just gabriel the actual Archangel 
> 
> (title paraphrased from Jeremiah 29:11)


	3. "...and subject them to hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> louis and zayn agree to an audience held with the angels on earth; quite simply, what follows is: all hell breaks loose

“... And they propose we hold a conference with them,” Zadkiel finished, watching Louis’ face carefully. Louis was quiet a moment. Then he burst into laughter. 

Zadkiel was taken aback as he watched his master grow more and more raucous in his laughter, until he saw actual tears forming at the corners of his blue eyes. He began to chuckle nervously along with Lou, and wondered if he ought not to escape before Louis went entirely mad. 

After a few minutes, Louis regained his compose, wiping at his eyes. “A conference, Z! It’s been thousands of years, and they propose a conference with me? This is too good, babe. Too good. Now let me hear the details of this confab.” 

Zadkiel cleared his throat and gingerly took up the scroll again; it still contained traces of heaven. “Gabriel’s council of angels invites fallen Lucifer and his chief consort fallen Zadkiel to the location of his choosing for a discussion of recent events – “ Here a fresh bout of giggles broke from Louis, and Zadkiel smiled in spite of himself. One wouldn’t think the devil capable of such delightful sounds. 

“They could mean literally anything with ‘recent events’. For all we know, ‘recent’ could date back to the beginning of time. Or to the Salem witches. Or, devil knows, to when I brought you down here with me, babe.”

Zadkiel nudged his head between Louis’ neck and shoulder and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Love you, bro. But I think they’re probably referring to your little demons, currently being held in their realm.” 

That sobered Louis up a little, and he sighed. “I feared that, Zaynie. I was always kind of hoping they would get sick of my fiends and send them back to me soon enough. But this needn’t be a problem. We’ll have them back with us if it’s the last thing that council decides to do.” Zadkiel knew Louis was struggling to keep up the levity to stay strong for his demons, but he supposed when you’re the Devil, that’s something you have to do. 

Louis shook his head, apparently to something he’d been telling himself. “Right then. Nairobi or the center of the earth?” 

 

Seven days later, at the seventh minute of the seventh hour of the day, a great earthquake shook the Saharan Desert, leaving a monstrous crack in the earth while simultaneously a shooting star descended to the same spot. The angels and the devils set foot on earth. 

Three angels, two demons, and three souls undecided. The two parties stood on opposite sides of the schism in the land, just barely able to make each other out through the brilliant glare produced by the rising sun. 

Louis raised his voice over the ghastly wind that whipped sand around their faces. “Cheers, lads. Formidable front you’ve produced there: Herald, Michael, and – now I’m not familiar with you, blondie. Tell us your name and place.” 

Besides him, Harry could feel Niall quiver infinitesimally, no doubt never having been addressed by such an intimidating figure. Not even Gabriel seemed to command such authority, and it was unavoidable not to shrink under Louis. The way he stood, thick thighs tensed up like a lion’s, a face that seemed cut from Grecian marble, and shockingly blue eyes somehow more terrifying than the black that demons usually sported – all of it contributed to the feeling of immoral and immortal power. 

Niall said, eyes cast down, “Nanael, principality. Third sphere.” 

Louis scoffed. “Was this really the best you could do, Michael? I understand your being here, Archangel, and you, Harry, of course. But a principality? A guardian? Is this truly what you bring to meet with the –“ 

“That’s enough, Louis.” Louis eyes’ cut fiercely over to the cherub that had addressed him. “We aren’t here to discuss the angels you would still have dominion over if you hadn’t failed yourself and your God.” 

Louis fought against the urge to spit into the chasm at his feet, and instead spit out his response. “Right. Forgot for a minute there, Herald, that we’re here to discuss your own failure to your God. That is, of course, why you’ve called this conference, is it not? To make a second valiant attempt at ‘saving’ me?” 

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but the Archangel laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head as their eyes met. 

“Lucifer, I’m sure you will have noticed the three other members of our party. Perhaps unsurprisingly to you, these demons of yours have shown nothing but hostility and obstinacy in our realm; frankly, we don’t know what to do with them.” Louis barked out a laugh, turning towards Loriana who looked particularly smug, but upon seeing Zadkiel’s solemn dark eyes, he regained his passive composure. 

“It is clear they are not deserving of eternity in heaven, nor can we logically return the fiends to you.” Louis tapped his foot, impatient, wishing the Archangel would just spit it out already. Zadkiel touched his elbow softly. 

“This is where you play your part.” Louis shook out of his friend’s light grip, suddenly restless beyond belief. He very well felt as if he were in purgatory. 

Michael took a deep breath before saying, “We wish to give the girls a second chance on earth. We wish to give them the choice with which they were never presented.” Louis choked back a gasp; they were practically handing over his little fiends without another thought. He’d always known angels to be merciful, but this? He was pretty sure he heard Loriana give a shriek of joy.

“There are, of course, conditions.” Louis had been expecting that, so he clasped his hands behind his back and gave a cordial smile to his negotiators. 

“To begin with, the girls will be made pure: they will not remember any of their time with you. They will be subject to no fiendish behavior, and on our part, they will not witness any sacred intercession beyond what occurs naturally in their lives. Are we thus far agreed?” 

Louis turned to his left-hand man quickly. So far, the conditions hadn’t changed much: it had been the baby’s mother who sold her soul over, and Loriana had chosen the Devil herself. Ferona was a wildcard, but Louis had some faith in her lack of faith. 

“We are.” 

“Very good. The deal breaker perhaps is the following: if any of the girls chooses God over you, Lucifer, you join her in purgatory.” 

Things happened very fast then. Zadkiel grabbed Louis by the arm and they leapt into the chasm, just as Louis heard a frantic “Lou!” from the girls. He glanced behind him, certain now this would be the last time he would ever see his girls, and watched as Harry jumped in pursuit into the abyss. 

 

What began as a clamor amongst the demons to see Louis’ face and know the outcomes of the conference quickly turned into a scratching and screeching brawl to get at the uninvited angel that had accompanied him. 

“Divinity of hell...” Louis muttered before springing forward, as he had no chance but to shield Harry’s body with his own. A dead angel wasn’t much in terms of ransom. 

“Enough!” he roared at the demons. He knew they were of no mind to attack him, but it was clear from their faces that they were struggling to make heads or tails of this turn of events. Louis met eyes with Zadkiel, who despite looking as confused as the rest of the demons, nodded. “All right, you lot, let’s get a go on, yeah?”

Slowly the fiends moved away, some still snapping their teeth and watching the pair with narrowed eyes, but Harry and Louis were soon left alone for the first time since Halloween night. 

Louis moved quickly away from Harry now that he was certain his minions wouldn’t rip him apart, and they stood apart from each other, breathing heavily and waiting. Finally, Harry spoke. 

“Wonder if this is how the writers of the Treaty of Versailles felt after the Second World War started. Worst peace treaty ever.” 

And the statement was so ridiculous and so inane that Louis couldn’t do anything but laugh in that moment. Before Harry knew it, he was laughing too – and Zadkiel, who could hear the giggling from just outside the room, decided his master had lost his mind at last. 

When the boys were both subdued, Louis scrubbed his hand over his face and then looked at Harry inquisitively. “Haven’t you something like three hundred verses about wisdom and intelligence and summat?” 

Harry grinned cheekily – and who said an angel couldn’t be fiendish too, with those dimples – and said, “Guess I haven’t an excuse. Last time an angel willingly flew into hell, those verses didn’t exist.” 

Louis rolled his eyes because at this point he didn’t know whether the boys were insulting or complimenting each other. So instead he uncrossed his arms and beckoned Harry follow him. “C’mon. An angel’s only in hell once. Unless, I mean, you’re me, or Z, or any of the others who left heaven. Screw it, whatever. Let’s away to it.” 

So Louis led Harry out of the entry, just past the gates, and further into hell. They first entered a cavernous room of volcanic rock where, interestingly enough, fire was being harvested for the demons. The workers in the room regarded them with tense muscles and widened eyes black as death. 

Louis could feel Harry stiffen beside him, and he heard a soft murmur of, “They’re just souls, just lost souls,” and without thinking, Louis reached to grasp Harry’s hand in his. He felt a sharp singe of pain, but Harry looked unhurt, so he kept his hold. 

Harry smiled then, and they left the room with the demons gaping behind them. Louis couldn’t even consider letting go of Harry’s hand as he watched his eyes flutter shut every time they passed a demon. Not to mention the painful burn had begun to fade to a warmth that was unfamiliar to Louis. When you live in an eternal inferno, not much feels warm in comparison. He thought it would feel a lot stranger than it did, but somehow it was... oddly comforting. 

As they continued through the dark passages, passing room after cavernous room, Louis could feel Harry relax minutely, and he smiled in spite of himself. He was also pleasantly surprised by how curious Harry was about the whole hell thing. 

“So do you, I dunno, go on earth often?” Harry had asked, stumbling over the words a bit. 

Louis nodded. “At least once a month, or whenever I’m summoned.” Harry turned towards him, eyes wide. “People... summon you? Like, to sell their souls?”

“Yeah, I can’t very well just steal their souls. It’s the only absolute and irrevocable power humans have – the right to their own being. And if it’s what they most want to do with themselves, I’m happy to help. It’s pretty – humane, I guess? I take good care of them.”

Harry nodded to himself as if he were affirming something in his own mind. “That’s funny really. We’ve always – well, we never really talk about hell, it’s all pretty taboo – but when we do, you’re the villain. You’re the one we have to warn others against. But I guess... it makes sense, what you do?” He nodded again and even smiled at Louis. “I’m really glad I got to talk to you, Lou. You’re pretty cool for someone who lives in perpetual flame.” 

Louis laughed and slung an arm around Harry’s shoulders, ignoring the keen twinge of pain the contact caused. “And you know what, Harold? You’re pretty cool yourself.” Harry smiled and pressed his dimples into Louis’ neck. 

That was when Zadkiel turned the corner and found them. He yelped and then covered his mouth, and then his eyes, and finally just cleared his throat. “My lord?”

Louis carefully unwrapped his body from around Harry and stood straight. “Yes?” 

“The empyreal demons, it would seem, have entered into a bit of – well, they have... would you come, please, Lou?” His eyes were panicked and his usually relaxed limbs were quaking. Louis knew what this was. And he knew it wasn’t safe here for Harry anymore. 

He turned to Harry quickly and pulled him into the nearest empty room. “You’ve got to stay here, all right, Harry? Don’t leave until I come to get you. I’ll be back soon.” He wasn’t sure why he suddenly felt like he ought to kiss Harry’s forehead or summat, so he backed away quickly and shut the door firmly behind him.

“All right, Z. Business as always.” 

 

Louis could hear even before they made it to the empyreal demons’ chambers a clamor rising beyond any he had heard in his thousands of years in hell. He flashed his eyes at Zadkiel, who just shook his head and gestured for Louis to pick up his pace. 

“They’re mad with anger, Lou. I don’t know what’s happened – but when I was making my rounds as always, just before I found you and the – cherub... they were practically hysterical and they – “ He paused, and this time when he looked at Louis it wasn’t so much with fear than with uneasiness. “They demanded your blood, Lou.” 

Louis stopped in his tracks, stared Zadkiel dead in the eye, spit out, “They’ll have to wait another infinity for that,” and rushed into the demons’ room. 

The chamber was a scene of unmitigated chaos. Demons hung from the rafters, pounded on the walls, all howling. “Why is it always the bloody empyreal demons,” Louis muttered as he noticed they had set most of the room on fire. He had dealt with this particular class before – they often took to wrath, but luckily they burned themselves out soon enough and anger took to shame. The only time he had ever had real trouble within his dominion was when multiple classes joined together. 

And when he saw a group or two of terrene demons amongst the flames, he felt his heart drop. 

“It’s him!” A shriek went up and he felt the murderous eyes of about a hundred demons trained on his face. He saw them already scrambling closer to him, claws clambering down the walls and across the floor and finally reaching out to snap at his ankles. 

“Hold.” The single voice boomed out through the chamber, and Louis looked up to find the speaker. He was not surprised by whom he found. Leviathan, a prince of the Seraphim once, and now the prince of envy. He stood tall and formidable – a dark beard and venomous black eyes cut across his face – in the center of the room, and his look was not smug, but righteous. 

It was clear already that the demons bowed in submission to this fiend, for they backed away infinitesimally from Louis’s feet. But now Leviathan directed his words to Louis. “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee in thy blood, live.” 

A new round of snarling rose from the demons before Leviathan raised his hand for silence. Louis set his jaw and waited as Leviathan continued. 

“I am sure, my friends, you are all familiar with the 41st chapter of the Book of Job. It describes in detail the form I often take on earth – that of a sea monster. But it is the last line that I desire you to think on: ‘He looks down on all that is haughty; he is king over all that is proud.’” He paused, chuckled humorlessly. 

“Six thousand years ago when I fell from heaven, this domain was nothing. Your Lucifer was lost without his God – he had been reckless, and his fury had only led him to bewilderment. But I trusted in his ambition, and so I followed him, along with five other princes. We each of us had our strengths and weaknesses, but with time we created this. We established a true system, a dominion – a kingdom of our own. A hierarchy was instituted; a council was created. I am a member of that council, along with the other original demons. 

“But I’m sure you weren’t aware of that, were you, my demons? And it is of no fault of your own. No one knows that council ever existed – except for this creature you call ‘Lord’. With time, each of the originals forced himself to forget about his standing as it became more and more dangerous to lay claim to any degree of power in Lucifer’s realm. 

“For many years, I decided to abdicate my princely throne. For many years, I decided to join my brothers in blissful ignorance, for the better good of our dominion, for the better good of you, my most beloved demons. For many years, I decided to allow this fiend to assume complete control. But today... today I decide otherwise.” 

A hellish shout rose to deafening levels. “Hear me, demons! Today, you and I saw with ‘your Lord’ an angel. Today, there is amongst us one who does not belong, one who has turned his back on us for thousands of years, who has existed only for his good, one who has at last converted to show his true loyalty – how else would he touch an angelic being? The only logical conclusion is that blood flows through his veins, is it not? Today there is among us a traitor, and he is not the angel hidden in a room in the west corridor.” 

He paused, and grinned at Louis. “Today, the traitor is the angel standing before you.”

 

Louis was quick to snap the necks of the first demons to spring at him. They weren’t well organized by any stretch of the imagination, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to fend off many more singlehandedly. He stepped back into the threshold, destroying the very demons he had once created as he went, until he felt himself back into something else. 

Unlike the others, he wasn’t attempting to scratch Louis’ face off, and as Louis turned to see who it was, he met the fearful eyes of Zadkiel. His mouth gaped as they made eye contact and Louis continued to kill off his little fiends. 

“Z, I can’t – “ He was cut off by a wince as one creature sunk his teeth into his arm. “You’re my best mate, you’re either with me or against me,” he choked out. Zadkiel still stood with his mouth agape as he watched more and more demons swarm his oldest friend. 

Then without a word, he struck down the next demon to leap at Louis, and nodded at him. “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Now go, Lou; I’ve got you.” 

“I’m not leaving you, Z!” He dropkicked a demon to the floor and met his wild eyes. “We’ll just – just finish them off, and then – “ He didn’t know what he was saying. There was no finishing them off. It seemed more and more demons poured into the chamber every second with their senses honed on destroying Louis. 

“Lou. They’re going to get the angel. You’ve got to save what you still can.” Louis knew what that meant: And I’m not what you should be saving. As he turned from Zadkiel, he ignored the sting in his eyes when he thought of just how many of the few creatures he still loved in this world he had had to say goodbye to in the past days. 

Louis ran through the corridors now, breakneck on his path. He knew every twist and turn of hell like the back of his own hand, but now there was a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought of Harry, innocent, trusting Harry, waiting in that room for Louis to come – face folding into a smile when the door opened, only to find screaming, clawing demons instead, and oh, hell... 

He came to the room where he’d left Harry and was nearly sick with joy when he saw it still shut tight; Harry was safe. But the shouts from down the hall reminded him that his monsters weren’t far away. 

He shouldered the door open and found him balled up in the corner, knees drawn to his chest. “I’m sorry, Lou, I know I should be brave, I know, I just couldn’t – “ 

Louis hurried to where he sat and pulled him up quickly by the arms. “It’s okay, H, but we’ve got to go. It isn’t safe for you here and we have to – “ A shriek went up, closer by this time, and Louis knew the demons had made it into the west wing. He didn’t know where that left Zadkiel. He could only hope some classes remained loyal. 

Harry jolted in his arms. “Come on, love, buck up. We’ve just got to – just have to... get out.” He forced Harry into a standing position and dragged him toward the door and out into the hall. And just outside the door stood a circle of his demons. 

Harry yelped, but they only bowed upon seeing Louis. He always known he’d liked his aerial demons the best. One stepped forward and spoke, saying, “My lord, we would like you to trust us in our eternal loyalty. We have already dispatched the warriors amongst us to combat the empyreal armies, and we are currently allying ourselves with the subterranean class.”

Louis nodded. “Good. All good. Can you help us get up, though? I would teleport, but I’ve got this one...” Harry smiled weakly and Louis patted his curls encouragingly. 

“That’s – that’s where the problem is. You heard, I’m sure, Leviathan’s speech.” Louis nodded impatiently. “Having imagined you conquered, he’s dispatched his minions – mainly empyreal, but some terrene, too – to ‘show the world who the real Devil is’. I fear if you step foot on earth, you’ll be overrun.” 

“As opposed to being overrun in my own realm? I’ll take my chances.” And with that Louis urged Harry into a run as they made their way to the chasm just cut for the conference. They were about to run through it when he saw a gang of demons come back through it from the other side – that is, from earth. 

“Summon Leviathan! Reinforcements! The archangels and their armies have descended, and they have three of our demons, abandoned by Lucifer! They demand the Devil’s audience!” The fiends ran off in pursuit of their master. 

When the coast was clear, Harry and Louis darted through the portal and once again stepped into the Saharan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from Matthew 13:50 !!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> i plan to finish this before Halloween, but i am but a bean and likely to slide on this so please hold me accountable if you want this to receive an ending!!!!!
> 
> (title paraphrased from Ephesians 6:12)


End file.
